"Rather."
"It would not take much trouble to remove you, my friend."
"Do you think so?"
"I am certain of it."
The abbé put the viaticum down on the edge of a ditch and said in very reverent accents, "O Lord, O Lord, take neither side, and Thou shalt see a rogue well thrashed."
The abbé kept his word, and the good Lord saw what had been promised.
Then he picked up the viaticum, continued his walk, administered to the sick man and returned quietly home again.
Both Bastien and the abbé were interested in keeping the matter to themselves, and they did so, but a choir-boy had seen the fight, and it became known.
Let it be said to the honour of the abbé that nobody was surprised at the affair.